Former Buena Park High School Assistant Principal Gregory B. Endelman has a new home. Endelman, an experienced educator and special education leader, has stepped into the job as principal of The Prentice School, one of several big changes taking place this fall.
Endelman said the opportunity to become the principal of The Prentice School, a one-of-a-kind private school that specializes in children with learning difficulties, afforded him the chance to bring all his passions into one place.
Former Buena Park High School Assistant Principal Gregory B. Endelman has a new home. Endelman, an experienced educator and special education leader, has stepped into the job as principal of The Prentice School, one of several big changes taking place this fall.
Endelman said the opportunity to become the principal of The Prentice School, a one-of-a-kind private school that specializes in children with learning difficulties, afforded him the chance to bring all his passions into one place.
“This seemed to me to be the perfect fit,” said Endelman, whose big interests are program development and change. “This is a general education school, but essentially all the students have some type of learning difference. So I thought I could really draw on my experience. I really want to dive in and figure out what is Prentice all about and learn how can I contribute.”
With 18 years in public education, that experience is vast.
Endelman’s last job was as the assistant principal of Buena Park High School in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. Prior to that he spent several years as the district’s special education director.
In addition, he has had school psychologist and special education leadership roles at the Orange County Department of Education, the Ocean View School District and multiple school districts throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties.
With the appointment of Endelman, a resident of Seal Beach, Prentice now has one single principal in charge of the elementary, middle and high school campuses.
“I find it personally enriching and rewarding to be principal of all three campuses simultaneously,” he said.
Education wasn’t always the top priority for Endelman, who admits to being a not-so-motivated student growing up in Bakersfield. After high school, he worked for about a half a year as a painter, when he started listening to the learned advice of friends who thought he should pursue bigger things.
“A lot of people took me under their wing and coached me up,” he said. “It was very beneficial.”
At the urging of one friend, he paid a visit to Chapman University in Orange.
“I walked onto campus and just fell in love with it,” he said. “I fell in love with the weather and the whole scene.”
He would go on to get his bachelor’s in psychology at Chapman and was later offered a scholarship there, which he used to get his first master’s degree in counseling and later got a second masters in psychology.
Along the way, he also has accumulated five different credentials from both Chapman University and UCI, and most recently, he attended Chapman’s sister school Brandman University to receive his doctorate in education.
Endelman has several priorities now as principal and will be working collaboratively with Executive Director Alicia Maciel to take the school to the next level.
First, he wants to honor and respect the school’s past as two campuses instead of three. But he also believes there is a great chance to bring some unification and alignment that didn’t exist prior.
Another top concern is to get the school ready for its accreditation renewal, which will take place this spring. His goal is to maximize the school’s accreditation at six years.
Finally, he wants parents to know the new guy on campus is easy to speak with.
“I want parents to know I am approachable and I will listen to them,” he said. “If they have a great idea or think something is not working, I need that feedback so that I can be responsive and make those changes.”
